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ColinB
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 Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 8:21 pm Post subject: OfCom Public Interest Test - Global/GMG merger |
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We have a government that is quite happy to stand by and allow the "nationalisation" of our independent and BBC local radio stations, and we have a toothless regulator - OfCom - that seems happy to allow it all to happen.
The recent merger between Britain's two major radio broadcasting conglomerates - GMG and Global - is, for many, just another step towards the creation of a near-monopolistic national radio brand that pretends to provide the UK with "local" commercial radio but in reality is providing only a national radio source with minimal local input and which is all fed from a central network server.
Under the Sound Broadcasting Act of 1972, local independent radio was supposed to work in the interest of local communities and was required to foster an awareness of local issues and cultural activities in addition to providing local & national news and entertainment in the communities each franchisee served. There were strict limits on the number of stations a licensee could own and operate. However, today, "IR" (as opposed to "ILR") is anything but - just listen to your supposedly local Heart FM station if you can bear to and you'll hear why that is.
The current post-merger licensing situation is out for public consultation for a very brief period of time; Culture Secretary (and good friend of Rupert Murdoch) Jeremy Hunt will be presented with OfCom's findings - based upon feedback from us mere listeners - very soon, but if you feel as strongly as I do about this inevitable stitch-up which will allow the big conglomerates to treat us all as mere consumers of radio "product" without caring what we think, then please do the honourable thing by responding here:
http://goo.gl/iFM9v
If, of course, you don't give a fig about what happens to local radio and you think it's perfectly OK for the big corporations to ride roughshod over us all by serving up a diet of bland audible rubbish on the majority of the UK's so-called "local" stations then feel free to ignore it! But decide quickly as time is running out... |
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ruddlescat
Joined: 16 Sep 2010
Posts: 18010
Location: Near Chester
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| Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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I agree 
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Are you ready for a Ruddles? |
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SantaFefan
Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 11258
Location: top of the cliffs in Norfolk
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| Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 8:59 pm Post subject: |
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I'd like to agree but as I never, ever listen to local radio ( because it's rubbish anyway ), it won't make any difference to me... sorry..
""...it's perfectly OK for the big corporations to ride roughshod over us all by serving up a diet of bland audible rubbish""
Isn't this what Radio 2 is doing now?
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Johnnie Walker read out my message on Pirate Radio!  13/8/07
I have heard how radio should be. |
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ColinB
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| Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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| SantaFefan wrote: | | I'd like to agree but as I never, ever listen to local radio ( because it's rubbish anyway ), it won't make any difference to me... sorry.. |
It's rubbish because there's not much of it, and because the system is so restrictive that few new truly independent operators can offer new styles of broadcasting. The "rubbish" you describe is the "rubbish" we've been forced to accept - or not. BBC local radio stations are hamstrung because they have to try and satisfy all those in their catchment area (which is an outdated concept that never really worked) and that's why they all sound so tired. But it needn't be that way.
My point is that the whole landscape is being changed and we have very little say. Lately, I've seen an increase in the number of local radio stations that broadcast a live web feed in Milton Keynes - Europe's fastest-growing city (OK - "new town" that's always called itself a city) - and it's ridiculous that we now have only one so-called "local" station over air. In many other countries, such as the USA, Canada, Australia, etc., there would be 6 or more stations catering for specialised, diverse, audiences. Politicians and OfCom are actively preventing this from happening in the Uk and they're doing so for a reason. I'd just like them to tell us what that reason is.
I'm involved with a web-based station ( http://www.secklowsounds.org ) that can only broadcast on FM once a year for 30 days at a time. It's not asking for government money, it does a better job at involving local people in local programming (including supporting many new bands through live sessions in the studio, etc) and it manages to be entertaining AND locally relevant. Now that BBC 3CR has pulled its Milton Keynes opt-out it's effectively dead, and only the online stations are actually doing what an ILR station should be doing - except that all we have is the disgraceful "Heart" cobblers.
The point about registering a response with OfCom is to say "It shouldn't be like this, so do something radical to change things". They won't of course, but to say "I'm not going to bother because I don't listen to local radio" is a bit mean. One of the reasons we have an appalling and restrictive local radio system in the UK is because successive governments and regulators have been allowed to get away with telling us what we should and should not have.
Perhaps that's why I've listened to Radio Caroline for decades! It was better than anything else (perhaps with the exception of Big L Radio London) in the 60s and it's still miles better than most other sources of UK radio listening now - especially Radio 2 for much of the week.
That said, I'd still encourage people to tell OfCom to listen (for once) to us rather than the corporations, whether local radio is "your thing" or not. It could be so much better than it is - but it won't be if those in control are allowed to get away with it.
| SantaFefan wrote: | | Isn't this what Radio 2 is doing now? |
Yes, definitely. It's not just bad, it's appalling for too many hours in the week - and that's why I hardly listen any more. |
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